1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to training systems and, more particularly, to training systems that use operational equipment so that students may train in a real-world environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past there have been two methods in which military flight crews increase their proficiency and their ability to use an aircraft's avionics equipment. The first method was for the flight crew to board the aircraft and take the airplane on an actual flight in which all of the equipment aboard the aircraft was used to detect and attack some target. This method proved to be expensive and dangerous since armaments cost a great deal of money and the military had to insure that no people would be around to be injured and/or annoyed by any explosions. The second method was for the flight crew to train in a device on the ground called a simulator. The simulator gave the flight crew the impression of undergoing an actual flight without ever leaving the ground. Normal and emergency flight conditions were duplicated and the ability of the flight crew to operate the instruments aboard the aircraft and follow commands were accurately recorded so that an instructor could explain to the flight crew any errors that they made in the simulated flight. The invention of this disclosure is a training system that is a hybrid between the actual operational equipment and a simulated environment. Even though a flight simulator duplicates as closely as possible the conditions that exist in the real world, certain environmental conditions cannot be accurately duplicated. For instance, the g forces that the flight crew would experience in an actual flight cannot be duplicated in a flight simulator and the view that the flight crew has from a simulator is more restricted than the view from an actual aircraft.